falling in love with [a southern] autumn.

Last year, I wrote an homage to my favorite season of the year-- my beloved fall.

When I found out that I was moving to Nashville I was more than a little bummed that I would be leaving the infamously beautiful Northeast for the fall season. I imagined the south to be lacking in any kind of fall weather, colors and everything of the like. I thought it would be 90 degrees until October and then just turn to 40 degrees.

How amazingly wrong I was! I've spent this autumn season in Tennessee and Georgia and it is just as beautiful as the Northeast... except there's a lot less rain. It's been absolutely perfect.

Eating lots of squash, wearing a jacket and sweaters and scarves, putting cinnamon in my coffee and taking photos of leaves. Fall, you'll always have my heart.

token fall produce photo

A Georgia Antebellum Home, so beautiful

Oktoberfesting

cutie Nashville, just because

Fall, you've been good to me

hurricane pizza

this delicious piece of heaven may not have anything to do with a hurricane, but it was born as a product of watching 8,000 hours of hurricane Irene coverage. No, but really.

As I sat in my tennessee apartment where it was sunny and 1,000 degrees outside, my pennsylvania-native roommate and I spent a good portion of last weekend glued to CNN as we kept our eye on our beloved Northeast and news anchors told us "this storm is unique because of its size" and "there will be a storm surge" 20 times per hour. At 9 am we were really into it, curled up on our couch with our coffee, but by 9 pm when it was apparent that most everyone in the Northeast was going to be just fine, we were wine CNN drunk and couldn't stop laughing at the poor reporters getting hit by sea foam.

post vicious attack

So, we decided to watch Sex and the City and make pizza.. which brings you hurricane pizza.

The ingredients on this are pretty outlandish, but this will seriously be the most heavenly specimen of pizza you may ever eat. So as I list off what you need, don't be all 'oh no she didn't' because trust me it'll kick you in the mouth with flavor. 

Here it is, you need:

1. your favorite pizza dough
2. a few slices of mozarella cheese
3. a few slices of jack cheese
4. blue cheese
5. fig preserves or jam
6. green onions
7. honey mustard

cheese. yes.

So roll out your dough, you can buy pre-made but it's cheaper and more delicious to make your own. I made this one with 1/2 of a 84 cent package of quick rising dough. Add warm water, wait five minutes and it's ready to go.

Then, add that ridiculous fig jam. It's super sweet, so don't over do it, just a light spread.  **because if you over do it, it'll be too sweet and you'll want to throw it out and you'll have wasted all of your ingredients and you'll still be hungry and nobody will be happy -- so just don't do it. 

Then add all that cheese.

 

Then half of the onions

 

Now it's time to bake it, I wish I could say I had an exact time and temp that works but I usually keep it spontaneous. Sometimes it's 350 for 15 minutes, or 425 for 10. Jut wait till its gooey and the crust gets golden, then your good to go. 

At this point, try not to be overcome by your instinct to rip this apart and inhale it, hold out because it's about to get really good.

Add the other half of your green onions, then dip a fork or knife into honey mustard and drizzle it on top and finish it off with a little pepper.

Cut it up and eat it right away because by this point the anticipation should be killing you and you deserve some relief. The flavor combos on this thing will really change your life.

I've found that this pizza pairs well with a Pennsylvania brewed lager and a lazy weekend, but you can eat it however you want. 

Can I have it please?

DIY bliss!

What's a girl to do when she wants her apartment to feel like home but is living life on a --- we'll just say less than pottery barn -- budget? DIY decorating my friends.

Not only is DIY decorating adorable and wallet friendly, but I love the ability to have everything in your home be one of a kind and perfectly tailored to your taste!

While browsing around for ideas and inspiration on pinterest, I came across these two lovely ideas for over the bed art and decided to combine them to give my dreadful white walls a little love.

The first, from ballard designs for $169.00

And the second from DIY Chic Home

When I was still living in Pennsylvania and painted my room a dreamy shade of grey, I spray painted everything in my possession white

 

But when I found out a week later that I would be moving to Nashville, I was left with empty white frames and no idea what to do with them. 

So after spending an indulging amount of time in Hobby Lobby (the south has been holding out from the north with this store... think about the sheer wonder that would be if Home Goods and A.C. Moore had a child, on steroids) and I found myself some cute scrapbook paper pages, for fifty cents a piece. 

I attached them to the back of the frames in about three minutes and then spread the frames out on my floor and tested every possible hanging combination.

 

Once I eventually picked one, I popped a few nails in the wall and voila! 

They add a small touch of color and most importantly give me a sense of feeling like this place is my home. And because I already had the frames and nails, it only cost me $3! I'd love to keep adding to this so the frames can be more condensed and the look as a whole will be bigger -- so I'm going to be on the hunt for cheap frames of different shapes and sizes every time I leave the house now. And if I get around to painting my walls or buying a new comforter that doesn't go along with the color scheme, switching out the backs of these frames is as easy as changing a pillow case.

Lets face it, DIY decorating is a win for everyone! What DIY project are you most proud of?

childhood dreams, coming true.

I will proudly tell the world that I love Britney Spears. I have since the third grade when I felt like she understood my life, dancing around in that catholic school uniform. Since then, my musical tastes have shifted, but I've always loved Brit Brit. Tride and true.

However, while I have loved her since 1998, spending the amount she charges to see her concerts never something I desired to do. Turning her up when she comes on the radio and vehemently defending her when people claim Christina is better is about as far as my loyalty went.

Then, I came across an opportunity to have amazing seats for her concert in Nashville for....18 dollars! I'll see just about anybody for $18, so the fact that it was my childhood idol was the cherry on top. I expected her to put on a good show and to have a fun time singing and dancing along to tunes that defined my elementary, middle school, junior high, high school and even college years. But, I didn't expect her to be as good as she was. She can put on a show, entertain a crowd and get thousands of people singing just as well as she's always been able to. Yes, Britney Spears has still got it.

It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to and so much fun to sing along to the oldies with all the 20 and 30 somethings in the crowd while the 15-year-olds looked at each other mouthing 'do you know this one.... me either.' come on, who doesn't know toxic and stronger?

So cheers to you Britney Spears, and your music that's kept me dancing like a fool since 1998. As long as you keep singing, I'll keep turning you up on the radio.

We had great seats, she was so close!

 

light up outfits, duh.

suspended with huge angel wings while fireworks go off behind her -- why not?

and just for the heck of it, 

let yourself take a trip down memory lane, you know you want to

noooo!

morning storms

Nashville weather has been a funny and fickle thing, in my two weeks here it's been filled with morning thunderstorms and spouts of rain downpours. Around noon, the skies clear and the day is (and remains) sunny as can be. Monday through Friday, it makes me want to curl up and go back to bed. But on the weekends, I love this weather. Instead of staying under my covers I want to get a cup of coffee and sit on my porch. Not even my porch - on the porch of a one hundred year old house, the kinds with the big shutters and wrap around porches - and drink coffee, listen to the morning rain and my favorite playlist.

Because of these lovely mornings, I can sit in my half-moved-into, not-really-feeling-like-home-yet apartment and feel comfortable, cozy and completely home. And that feeling of being 'home,' well, that's a very special thing.

Look at these pretty southern porches, couldn't you just sit on them all day long?

yes, please.

 

my favorite, I want to photoshop myself on that porch swing.

I always love Adele, but watching the rain and listening to this song this morning feels like it's the perfect fit. Her jazzy sound sooths my soul down to the core. 

Happy Sunday morning everyone. I hope you all have something that makes your weekend mornings one of your favorite parts of your week.